The Kaz Crawl

We woke to another blizzard – snow blowing sideways for dramatic effect – which cleared in time for the Mechems to visit the Powers (Sean, Maureen and James). They are in an apartment a few blocks away so we bundled up the boy and braved the chill. Owen and James were both very good, engaging in a little friendly wrestling and playing with their toys. Maureen and Sean were going to treat us to a dinner of french fries, chicken nuggets and fish sticks; unfortunately their gas cylinder ran out halfway through cooking and a replacement couldn’t be delivered until the next day. By this time in the trip we all are sufficiently “Kazified” to laugh it off and eat dried peach and raisin pie for dinner instead.

Owen continues to be in good health and is making developmental gains everyday. It amazes us to see the things he does after being with us just short of two weeks. He can now sit on his own for several minutes, he loves to stand and even “dances” a bit, and he really seems to be enjoying investigating his toys and his world. But he’s still not showing any real interest in crawling; why bother when you can scoot yourself around on your back - the Kaz Crawl! We try to tell him that if he keeps it up the bald spot on the back of his head will never have a chance to fill in and the girls will tease him, but so far, it doesn’t seem to matter to him. Especially since pretty girls like Rada come by to give him lots of attention no matter how his hair looks (hmmm, maybe it’s really the Nittany Lion paw print on his pants that she likes).

Our little one also had his first babysitter this week. Luba is a wonderful woman who works with our agency and is the housecleaner at the cottage; she also does our laundry. She loves kids – as soon as she walked in she went right for Owen and started speaking Russian to him and he seemed perfectly content with her. Bob and I went to dinner with Rada at Kokshetau’s sole sports bar. It was nice and rather new looking inside with several large screen TVs all showing soccer. Rada tried to teach us a bit about the rules of the game, but if Owen decides to play I think I’ll have to get a crash course from Drew because I still don’t understand what constitutes getting a yellow card! It was nice to get out and have a good meal, but it was even nicer to come back to the apartment and give Owen big hugs and kisses.

We are now heading into our last week in Kokshetau!

Author’s note: On the last post I referenced Henry and inadvertently put the wrong Roman numeral (was never very good at them!) – it should be Henry the 8th; you know, the one who killed his wives!!